LOVE strikes me as being something of a game that harkens back to the platformers of old with the visuals taking a direction towards the Atari games of the early 80's and beyond, given the retro focus that the developer here has focused on bringing back to life on a more modern platform for video gaming.

Given then that, despite being at a fairly low price that makes accessibility quite easy for anyone looking to try it out as well as being quite well-designed from a graphical point of view, the gameplay leaves something to be desired as far as scratching that 'platformer itch' as it were, though could it be just down to personal differences in tastes, given that I am not the biggest platformer lover out there?

To start off with this review though, LOVE has you controlling a white animated stickman figure (as befitting of the Atari homage to it's older pixelated graphics!) as you make your way across 16 different levels, varying in the types of obstacles you are expected to face though surprisingly the difficulty is a bit all over the place as each stage varies in how short or long it is alongside the complexity of the obstacles at hand, however what I can compliment is this game's level design as no obstacle overstays it's welcome for too long, with each presenting a new challenge that keeps the pace of the gameplay smooth and it's mechanics interesting.

Another aspect of LOVE that I can commend on is that, although the game's difficulty right off the bat isn't exactly forgiving and would be a couple of stages away from the likes of Jump King in terms of tight platforming, were it not for a most handy feature that is entirely at the control of the player in the form of 'manual checkpoints', by which I mean you can essentially control where you respawn at the press of the 'S' button whenever you like, with no restrictions on how many times you can do this on most of the game modes on offer, which allows for players to take their time in a manner that isn't going to feel frustrating with repeating lost progress. (So long as they remember to keep sporadically adjusting the checkpoint, but even then a death that sets you back a good minute or so is a good reminder within itself!)

Speaking of which, depending on which of the six game modes you play, this will impact not only how many lives you have and checkpoints you are allowed to spawn for the duration of your playthrough but also which levels you play through as Arcade is the default game mode with a big 100 lives (trust me, you'll need them!) and with unlimited usage of manual checkpointing, next comes Unlimted which is practically this game's 'easy mode' with unlimited lives alongside checkpoints, then YOLO comes in with just ONE live to carry you throughout the whole run followed by Speedrun that puts you up against all other players in a highscore board race to be the best of them all! (The other two, REMIX and kuso, each host their own unique levels with a reduced amount of lives to spare due to the smaller amount of levels)

Truth be told, it is a fair amount of content on offer for the low price point on offer, which is truly a shame then that I was unable to enjoy it despite the amount of effort put into replicating an Atari platformer at it's peak, seeing how it's quite possible that it just did not 'click' with me like it has for many other people here.

Personally, I would not recommend this for those who like 'style' in their platformers, as even the attention to detail with the limitations of these retro graphics don't do enough to make it visually interesting, nor those who like to feel that they are exploring in a 'world' that they could live in, perhaps it's the constant black void that could've been filled in with simple details to add to the overall experience, though it could very well be said that the 'minimalist' approach is to it's benefit for other gamers who simply want a platformer that does the one thing well, of which I will give Fred Wood kudos for having put in the effort to create a pretty decent skill-based platformer that isn't TOO unforgiving nor one to hold your hand constantly like those that chase the casual crowd tend to do.

To conclude, LOVE is a platformer that focuses primarily on the platforming and little else and, for some such as myself, that won't likely be appealing enough to enjoy the game for it's entirety even bearing the low price of £2.09. However I can still give it some form of recommendation for those who enjoy excelling in the same series of small levels over and over as it does seem to have that 'appeal' for speedrunners and the likes alongside generally being straight to the point without any awkward gimmicks to pad out the gameplay time considerably.

A shame that I was, as unfortunate as it may be, not able to 'LOVE' this game as much as others did, however I will keep a close eye on it's sequels to see if improvements are made and enough of them to perhaps entice me over to give it another chance in the future.

TLDR Version:

• Simple platformer that's easy to get into and offers enough challenge to require some skill but also offers manual checkpoint via the 'S' button as a safety net for more casual players (+)
• LOVE offers 16 levels to conquer, each offering it's own unique obstacles to overcome, that are designed with retro graphics designed to be faithful to the Atari classics of old (+)
• Six different game modes that play differently from one to the next, with a standard/Arcade, easy/Unlimited, YOLO/Hard, time trial/Speedrun and two others (Remix and kuso, hosting their own levels) to keep the player interested (+)
• The fairly low price point makes LOVE cheap enough to try out for those who aren't too sure and to see if they would be interested enough to try out it's sequels if they are (+)

• Gameplay can quickly become repetitive for those who are looking to immerse themselves into the world of a platforming game, with little else to offer outside of strictly platforming (-)
• The focus on the graphics could have done with further improvements by replacing the black void with subtle details to give more 'life' to the levels instead of feeling empty and subpar (-)
• LOVE's six game modes, whilst distinct, only diversify the challenge of the gameplay rather than change things radically, as more could have been done to keep things interesting (-)
• A critical bug involving achievements when using the old version of LOVE via Steam's internal console prompts to skip past levels via F12 for easy achievements, which sadly works and rendered part of the game pointless (-)